Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley
Published 2019 · 400 pages · Young Adult, LGBTQ+ Fiction, Coming-of-Age
How hard is Deposing Nathan to read?
Deposing Nathan scores 30 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 28 out of 100
- A young adult novel from Page Street Kids, aimed at teen readers, so the vocabulary is likely contemporary and accessible. Closer to the clear contemporary prose of Beach Read than to anything literary or ornate.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Young adult fiction of this kind generally uses direct contemporary sentence structure. It sits near Beach Read in the demands it places on readers.
- Abstraction: 34 out of 100
- The premise is concrete: an attack, a legal deposition and a prison sentence at stake. Questions of sexuality and faith add some reflection, but the book is built on personal experience, like It Ends with Us.
- Information density: 30 out of 100
- At 400 pages, a single-premise teen drama with a legal frame, likely plot-driven and easy to follow. Density resembles Beach Read more than a layered novel.
- Narrative indirection: 35 out of 100
- The publisher's blurb describes a clear central situation, and the genre favours direct emotional expression. Kirkus calls the treatment of questioning sexuality layered, which suggests some inference is asked of the reader.
- Symbolic density: 28 out of 100
- Contemporary YA realism usually keeps its symbolism light. Nothing in the evidence points to an allegorical or motif-heavy design.
- Ironic distance: 22 out of 100
- The material is personal and sincere: a teenager facing a deposition and questioning his identity. Expect direct emotional engagement, as in It Ends with Us.
- Resolution withholding: 30 out of 100
- The deposition frame points to a plot headed toward a defined outcome. Genre convention suggests emotional resolution rather than open ambiguity.
- Structural complexity: 38 out of 100
- The deposition premise may shape the telling, but the evidence shows no experimental form. Assume a mostly accessible structure.
How Deposing Nathan is regarded
Deposing Nathan holds a literary regard score of 25 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.